Chapter 36: Out of Control (15)

As Lu Jinzhao’s words faded, the near-collapse of Wei Ling’s expression seemed to find comfort, and her teetering sanity was pulled back from the brink.

She nodded. "Okay, I... I believe you."

Her voice was strained, but as her emotions gradually calmed, her tone lost its frantic edge. In this desperate situation, she viewed Lu Jinzhao as her only lifeline.

With a pale hand, Lu Jinzhao reached into her pocket, touching the piece of parchment she had kept there. She could not confirm if the scene before her was real or a fabrication, nor could she be certain if the crumbling Wei Ling was merely a hallucination. The only thing she could be sure of was that the scroll of parchment in her possession was by no means an ordinary paranormal object.

If even the words on the parchment were an illusion, then she had no hope of breaking through this boundless mirage.

Yet, Lu Jinzhao felt otherwise.

She even harbored a vague premonition that this parchment played no small part in her falling into such a desperate predicament. Its desire to strike a deal with her was far too blatant. Moreover, she had observed from the reactions and words of other passengers that the difficulty of these past two station tasks had been abnormally high.

One time could be a coincidence, but twice? Could it still be mere chance?

If her hypothesis was correct—that the excessive difficulty of the stations was the work of the parchment—then the illusions of a Grade C task could not possibly contain it.

As if sensing Lu Jinzhao’s newfound willingness to negotiate, the blood-red text before her shifted once more.

[Will you pay one-third to obtain the path to survival for this task?]

The price demanded by the parchment caused Lu Jinzhao, who had been on the verge of agreeing, to pause.

"One-third? One-third of what?"

Ignoring Wei Ling’s presence, she questioned the air directly. She knew the parchment could "hear."

But the parchment offered no response.

Lu Jinzhao’s brow furrowed. "If you don't make it clear, I will never trade with you."

The air remained silent for a few seconds before the blood-red text changed again.

[Will you pay one-third to ensure your survival in this task?]

The wording had changed, but the cost of "one-third" remained immovable.

Lu Jinzhao was almost driven to laughter by the absurdity. This damned thing...

"I need to know what that one-third is," she emphasized again.

However, the parchment remained silent.

The two remained locked in a stalemate for a long time until, finally, the blood-red text shifted once more.

[You are out of time.]

[Can you be certain whether the train has arrived or not?]

The parchment began to beguile her.

[If you do not decide now, you may be... left here forever.]

Lu Jinzhao sneered. "Then you can stay here with me forever, too."

The parchment fell silent.

Lu Jinzhao did not feel triumphant despite her verbal victory. On the contrary, she sensed something far more sinister in those few lines of text.

...This thing actually possessed a certain level of "intelligence." Though it seemed somewhat rigid, there was no doubt that it was, in many ways, more "human" than the ghosts she had encountered at the station.

What on earth was this parchment?

Perhaps, after leaving this place, she should return home.

A few seconds later, the parchment responded.

[Pay one-third of your soul to ensure your survival in this task.]

Seeing the word "soul," Lu Jinzhao felt a jolt of shock. The price was simply too immense. One-third of her soul—was that not equivalent to one-third of her life?

What did this thing want with her soul?

It was clearly more powerful than the ghosts at the station—the ghost she had seen after the surgery in "Ghost Summoning" would possess her the moment she laid eyes on it, yet the parchment did not fear it. And yet, when dealing with her, it demanded a third?

What was it that constrained it?

In that instant, a flurry of thoughts raced through Lu Jinzhao’s mind. She even entertained a radical notion.

"...It seems very eager to make a deal with me and does not want to remain at the station. If I keep refusing to trade, when the train is truly about to depart, will it warn me just to avoid being left behind?"

But doing so would be gambling with her own life as the stake!

The parchment wouldn't die if left at the station, but she would.

Lu Jinzhao could not take such a risk.

"One-fourth," she stated. "I’ll make the deal."

She was testing the parchment’s bottom line, but...

[Transaction failed.]

The parchment refused.

Lu Jinzhao’s brow tightened, realizing the parchment’s resolve was firmer than she had anticipated. With the situation as it was, she stopped hesitating. Once she made a decision, she did not waver.

"Fine. Let's trade."

The next moment, the illusory blood-red text dissolved into a crimson mist. The mist seemed to outline a vague, distorted face—a face that wore a cold, hair-raising grin, satisfied that its objective had been achieved.

[Transaction successful.]

Instantly, Lu Jinzhao’s vision went black. Her body collapsed, uncontrolled, as if she were falling into an endless abyss. Everything around her was pitch black; she could only feel herself plummeting, falling deeper and deeper...

Something reached out from the darkness, wrapping around her body and seeping inside.

A biting, glacial chill merged effortlessly with her, devouring a portion of her being.

Lu Jinzhao felt her consciousness drifting. Her mind began to involuntarily replay memories of her past, only for them to stutter, jump, and blur like a poorly edited film.

Strange images surfaced before her eyes—places she had never seen, dim, silent, and oppressive.

Faceless figures flashed past her, frame by frame. An inexplicable fear, born from nowhere, gripped her heart. She wanted to scream, to flee, but she could not make a sound, nor could she control her own body or thoughts.

It felt as though an eternity had passed, yet it might have been only a heartbeat. Slowly, Lu Jinzhao regained a modicum of control over her mind and body.

She heard Wei Ling calling her name in a panic, urging her to wake up, and felt her body being shaken.

Lu Jinzhao forced her eyes open, only to feel her brain spinning violently. She tried to raise her hand, but found... she felt a strange sense of detachment from her own body.

"...Is my control over my body failing?"

Well, it was to be expected, considering she had sold one-third of her soul to the parchment.

Fighting the overwhelming fear caused by her physical abnormality, Lu Jinzhao managed to tell Wei Ling to stop shaking her. It took her a moment longer to steady her unfamiliar, sluggish limbs and stand up. She looked toward the entrance of the ancestral hall and saw that the train had vanished.

"When did the train outside disappear?" she asked.

Wei Ling’s eyes were frantic and lost; she had clearly reached her limit. "It vanished... the moment you collapsed."

"Did we... did we miss it?"

Lu Jinzhao shook her head, speaking with conviction: "No. That was just an illusion. The real train hasn't arrived yet."